


Hopeless Hair

by DuskyDancing



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Awkward Flirting, F/M, Felileth Week (Fire Emblem), Hair Brushing, Humor, Pining, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25262674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuskyDancing/pseuds/DuskyDancing
Summary: Felix tries to help Byleth become less distracted on the battlefield, and unintentionally makes it worse. For Felileth Week - Day 3 - Hair.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 6
Kudos: 71





	Hopeless Hair

Byleth could feel his crimson eyes on her as she applied first aid to her wounds from the last skirmish. Normally Felix would simply handle his own equipment and injuries as long as everyone was in one piece, so his repeated glances were both noticeable and unnerving.

He'd been cat-like on the battlefield as usual, taking out enemies from behind before they could even notice him, then rushing out of sight. He was good with a sword, and five years of war had done nothing but harden those skills. Even as a professor, Byleth knew she'd made the right choice in training with him almost daily.

She sensed him staring again out of the corner of her eye and couldn't take it anymore.

"If there's something you'd like to critique about my medicinal skills, Felix, you can just tell me."

He shifted uncomfortably beside her and grumbled. "That's not it. I was just thinking."

"Thinking what?"

He pursed his lips and sighed, "That you wouldn't get injured as much if you paid more attention."

"Oh," she chuckled, "so it's not my healing, but my _combat_ skills you're criticizing?"

"N-no!" he folded his arms. "Stop making assumptions."

Byleth couldn't deny she loved seeing him get a little riled up, just enough to turn his face red. "Then what's your observation?"

His shoulders relaxed when she no longer escalated the conversation. "It's your hair," he said. "I see it get in your face all the time. You should pull it back to help you see better."

"Oh," was that it?

She ran a hand through her mint hair and couldn't deny that he had a point. She'd never been taken by surprise in combat, but there had been a correlation between her hair flying in her face and being just a little too late to block or parry an attack. Felix himself had longer hair than he let on, he just twisted and pulled it into the strange updo that rested behind his head on a daily basis. He only let it fall freely over his shoulders when he slept or during one of his rare visits to the sauna.

"What is it?" he asked, and she realized she had been staring off in thought.

"Nothing, I actually agree with you," she said. "It's just…"

"Just what?"

"You're going to laugh," she said, "but I never really learned how to do my hair much, growing up among a bunch of mercenaries." She began mindlessly fidgeting with her neglected strands. "I knew how to do ponytails and such, but those hurt and start to pull your hair out after a while."

He didn't laugh, but after the sound of him shifting in his seat, his voice came in much closer behind her. "You're hopeless. Here, let me show you."

Before she could register what he meant, a pair of hands came around to each side of her head. She stiffened and braced for the pain at her roots when he'd yank her hair back, but instead two fingers merely glided along her temples back to the crown of her head, splitting her hair into two sections.

He twisted the bottom half a couple of times and held out the ends. "Hold this."

She did, then immediately felt him begin to gather the top half. His fingers were delicate as they combed through her battle-tangled hair. With the feeling of calloused fingertips against her scalp, she realized he'd removed his gloves as well. Heat began to rise in her face.

She closed her eyes, focussing her senses only on the touch that was running through her hair. No one had done this for her since she was very little. Her mind flashed back to her father's attempts at doing her hair for her as a child. He was no better with hair than she was, often just shaving down his sides and braiding the rest down his neck. But with her, he still tried his best. He'd been gentle too, and she couldn't help but feel nostalgic at the sensation.

Felix was nimble and smooth with how he handled her hair. He didn't force tangles apart, but worked them free as if he were actually untying them individually.

"Sorry, don't have a brush, so this might take a minute."

She'd make sure no one ever brought a brush with them on mission if it meant she could experience this each time. Better yet, he seemed completely oblivious to the effect he was having on her.

She suppressed a laugh, but managed a nonchalant, "It's fine."

She refrained from saying anything close to how she actually felt. Because as soon as he knew what he was doing to her, he would get flustered and stop.

He held the top half of her hair in one hand and began rummaging through his pockets with the other. Soon after, she felt the cold touch of metal on her head.

"You don't have a brush, but you have hair pins?" she teased.

"Yeah, I keep extra just in case the ones I wear get lost," he paused, "or if I have a tactician who can't even do her own hair."

A smile grew on her face that he thankfully couldn't see. She had no idea how he'd oriented her hair back there, but she couldn't feel a single strand move or fall against her neck once he was finished with that portion.

"Hand me the other section," he commanded, and she happily complied.

The dance started all over again with the bottom half of her hair, and it felt even better. Once again, she closed her eyes and savored the gentle sensation drifting along her temples. When he brushed his hand up from her neck to the base of her skull, goosebumps found a new home all up her neck and arms.

It registered in her mind somewhere that Felix had said something, but she was too lost in bliss to catch his words.

His voice came in louder. "Byleth, are you listening?"

"Huh?" She opened her eyes and began to turn around, but he held her head in place.

"I said that your hair's shorter than mine, so I'll have to improvise."

"Oh," she said, "that's fine." Only then did she realize he'd called her by her name, and not by the usual 'Professor'.

He continued on in silence, untangling and gathering her hair. Before her body could stop itself, a satisfied hum escaped from her lips. Her eyes snapped open, but she was too late. Felix's hands froze mid-brush.

"What was...?"

"Sorry! That was um…" she hid her face behind her hands.

It was all over. She'd reached complete bliss with Felix Hugo Fraldarius, and then she'd gone and ruined it after two minutes because she couldn't control herself. Now he was aware of his unintentional softness and would never -

"Was that a, uh," he paused, and she realized he was still holding her hair, "good sound?"

Slowly, she tore her hands from her face and breathed again. "Yeah, Felix. It feels...nice."

"Oh."

There was another long pause, and Byleth braced for him to laugh at her, become reviled or angry, or simply drop her hair and walk away to make her finish the job herself. She expected anything but for him to resume the task that had enraptured her.

Which is exactly what he did.

It started out slightly stiff, like he was now intentionally trying to be slow and gentle while overthinking every twitch of his fingers. As she relaxed more into it, however, so did he. There was no reason for him to continue after she'd embarrassed herself, unless he'd actually been enjoying it too. Her cheeks warmed, and she prayed any blush on her face didn't travel all the way back to her ears.

This time, she could feel what he was doing with her hair. He wrapped it around whatever bun he'd created in the back and secured it with more pins.

Finally, to her dismay, he removed his hands, and all of her hair stayed in place. Slowly, she turned to face him, only to find his own face as flustered as hers felt. She patted gently around her head and shook it a few times for good measure. Sure enough, everything stayed in place, just like Felix's hair always had.

"I uh," he scratched his head, "I tried to distribute the tension so it wouldn't pull too much."

"It feels great," she said. "How does it look from the front?"

He regarded her for a moment. If he was flustered before, he was outright blushing now. Before, Byleth had loved trading harmless banter with him to turn his face warm, but now she'd found an even better way.

"It looks nice," he finally said, and that was as good as most compliments from Felix could be.

"Thanks." His blushing caused a chain reaction in her, but she managed a smile through the abashment.

"Think you can do it yourself?" he asked.

Shit, she forgot.

"You weren't even paying attention, were you?" His tone was more amused than annoyed, to her surprise.

She dipped her head. "I might need one more walkthrough in the future, if that's alright."

He huffed, and the edges of his lips twitched upwards. "Alright, one more time, but that's it."

**Author's Note:**

> Me: *staring at Felix art for hours* **how** do you do your hair?!


End file.
